Most seats for vehicle passengers are reclining seats in order for the occupant to be able to alternate between a substantially upright position and a reclined position for resting. In today's vehicles, most reclining seats have a seat pan and a seat back connected to a pivot in the seat chassis. The seat is reclined by tilting the seat back around the pivot. In vehicles configured for autonomous driving, drivers are expected to recline more often in order to gain some rest while the vehicle drives itself if the vehicle is in an autonomous driving mode. Furthermore, during an autonomous driving mode, as a driver of the vehicle is not required to be in command of the vehicle, the angle in which an occupant would typically recline the seat is likely to be increased.